Bullet Journaling for Beginners to Get Your Life More Organized

If you are looking for ideas about bullet journaling for beginners, you are not alone.  Bullet journaling is a hot new trend in organizing our lives.  However, it is more than just a simple journal.  In bullet journaling, you basically combine all of your thoughts, schedules, to do lists, finances, etc. into one single journal.  All of the notes you need to keep your life on track go into one place.  All of those things that you struggle to keep up with every single day get condensed into one location.  It is a simple and incredibly helpful way to reduce your stress and anxiety about the chaos in your life.  Here are a few simple tips about bullet journaling for beginners.

Bullet Journaling for Beginners

Benefits of Bullet Journaling

There are many benefits to bullet journaling and you should remember that there is no right or wrong way to do it.  Bullet journaling is supposed to make your life EASIER.  Not stress you out even more!  Don’t feel like it has to be organized a certain way or look like someone else’s. The most important thing about bullet journaling for beginners is to remember that your’s will be completely unique! Here are some basic ideas to keep in mind:

Everything goes in one place

All of your lists, schedules, and notes go into one journal.  It is inconvenient to have multiple to do lists and notes in different areas.  I know I have a business to do list in my office and a home to do list on my kitchen desk.  It is inconvenient to look in two different places to know what I have to do.  Bullet journals let you keep everything in one location.  You will use symbols and short phrases instead of long paragraphs to keep yourself organized.

Keep it simple

Bullet journaling for beginners needs to be easy if it is going to be successful. Typically, you will create an index, which will become a broad selection of which items you will be including.  Then, number your pages and start writing.

Track your habits

Since you will be writing in your bullet journal every day, you can see exactly what you are spending your time and money on.  If you are spending too much on fancy coffee and not hitting the gym often enough, you can change your habits as needed.

Choosing the Right Bullet Journal

Bullet journaling requires one very simple thing.  You need the right journal!  There are many different journals available, however, you want to choose one that is thick enough for all of the things you need to add into it.  You want one with relatively large pages that give you plenty of space to write.  Make sure it opens and closes easily.  You don’t want the spine so tight that you can’t easily access the entire page to write on it.  If you plan on decorating it or using felt tip pens, make sure the paper is fairly thick.

Building Your Bullet Journal

While there is tons flexibility when building your bullet journal, here are a few basic guidelines.  Remember, bullet journaling for beginners should be simple so do what works for you!

• Index:  Your bullet journal should have an index to make things easier to find.  It lets you know where each section of the journal is located.  Label sections like groceries, weekly meal plan, expenses, etc.  It lets you go right to that page to jot down quick notes.
• Page Numbers: In order for the index to actually work, you need to number your pages.  Make sure every page is numbered and that it fits with the index you created.
• Signifiers:  What is a signifier?  Basically, signifiers are symbols that you assign to different notes within your bullet journal.  They often take the place of long phrases.  Track moods with happy faces or a heart for date night with your husband or wife.  Use holiday symbols like Christmas trees or pumpkins to indicate certain holidays.  You can use bullet journal stickers or felt tip pens to create your signifiers.

Bullet journaling for beginners should be a simple way to track everything creating chaos in your life.  Your kid’s sports schedules, your work lists, grocery lists, and bills to be paid can all be organized in one spot.  That means fewer forgotten items at the store and hopefully a few less last minute errands that you forgot to do. Check out this post on BuzzFeed for some bullet journal layout ideas to get you started.

Have any other ideas to share about bullet journaling for beginners?

Love to journal?  Try making a garden journal!

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Diane Hoffmaster

Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician with two teens, one husband and more pets than she will admit to. She has a BS in Microbiology but left her career in science to become a stay at home mom. Years of playing with LEGO and coloring with crayons had her craving a more grown up purpose to her life and she began blogging full time. She currently deals with emotional teens, suburban politics, and middle aged metabolism while sharing her opinions in an honest and down to earth fashion on her blog.